Chris Schutte

far as I can tell, and was shown, is that the layers of rock in the Grand Canyon are all sedimentary in nature; layered all the way down to the bedrock where the depth of the Grand Canyon terminates; the tipe of rock sediments found all over the world as a typical result of being laid down my massive displacement events

Anything I cannot figure out by way of coherent logic and reason interests me. Not that everything can be understood of course; our minds are mostly limited to what we could ordinarily discover in the four dimensions of space-time. I have a habit of always questioning and challenging topics or subjects that remain unresolved in my head. So the experiences, feedback and opinions of other like minded people I always find valuable. Discussing topics of interest can be an eye opener; I find there's usually some person with a fresh take on a matter not previuosly considered by myself.

From what I can tell one's soul comprises of mind, reason, will, emotions, thoughts, etc .. How could these have measurable substance or weight if they are immaterial ?

what i meant was being biologically alive animates the body; in the absence of biological life the body can no longer animate the fact that it is alive; biologically speaking .. a dead mouse also looks "absent" or "not present" when no longer biologically alive i trust that clarifies

wouldn't you say that it might be possible that they don't look "present" or "real" simply because the physical animation of biological life is now absent ? i know what you mean though and can relate

fair comments .. thx for your input I think any argument on this topic will have to be philosophical in nature, by default ..

Perhaps I should clarify what I mean with conciousness: It is the idea that one is an autonomous, self aware entity that distinguishes itself (concious self awareness) separate from one’s physical atrributes; to extent where one is concious of one’s own conciousness; that is, one can contemplate and reflect on one’s self awareness. For example: looking at your own body you can say that these are my arms, my legs; inside my head is my brain; thereby distinguishing onself separate from the sum of your parts. I could therefore pose the question: If those are your arms, your legs, your brain inside your head, then who are you ? Or what are you, if not the sum of the parts of your body ? One doesn’t say “I am brain”, but “I have a brain”, so then who is the “I” ? That is what I mean with being an atonomous concious entity occupying a body. I have never heard anybody that could even begin to explain how pure bio-chemical processes, matter and energy, can result in producing something that is its polar opposite. That is to say how molecular processes that is purely physical in nature can produce something that is purely non-physical in nature. How does bio-chemistry explain or derive features like mind, free will, self awareness, self contemplation, emotion, thoughts, innate moral standards. These are all non tangibles, in that they are not physical or measurable in nature, yet every bit as real as the electrical impulses firing between your synapses (your; that word again) in your brain. Yet if these meta-physical attributes, like mind, exist atonomously from the computer in your head, why do they seem to shut down the moment the brain shuts down ? Honestly, I'm not even sure whether I've clarified my intent or muddied the waters even further .. C’mon, where are the resident philosophers ?

At the exact moment the anesthesia kicks in; bit convenient, wouldn't you say ? And if we go somewhere, why aren't we concious or aware of it ? If conciousness and mind aren't emergent properties of brain chemistry, then shouldn't we be self aware even when the brain goes down ? In my experience when the brain goes to sleep, so does conciousness. Does that not make an argument that conciousness is an emergent property of brain activity and therefore not independant of the brain. Playing devil's advocate here since I've never come accross a satisfactory response to this ..

If the premise is that things like mind and conciousness are non-physical phenomena, metaphysical therefore, and not dependant on the biology of the brain, that is to say, that your thoughts and conciousness interact with your brain and you brain and central nervous system reacts to "commands" derived from conciousness and thought, how is it then that our sense of conciousness is "switched off" during anesthesia .. I guess the same question could be asked of the deep sleep state ..

My story begins 27 years ago when I was 23 years old living in Pretoria in Gauteng Province, South Africa. At the time I was working with my father and staying on his small holding in Willow Glen, Pretoria East. It was a large double story house with sprawling lawns, a tennis court and a massive swimming pool at the rear of the house. From the second story rooms where I was staying one could open the room’s glass sliding doors, walk out onto the balcony that spanned the length of the second story double living quarters and look out onto the picturesque backyard. This is where I found myself one evening after dark; not enjoying the magnificent view, but desperate to know if God was there; more specifically, if He was there for me too. Fast forward 25 years when I found myself that evening on that balcony to June 2018. It was the 25th of June 2018 and I got home from work with a heavy weight upon my heart that began plaguing me during the day. Waking up the next morning it was still there and this hefty pressure steadily increased within me during the course of the day. By the time I got home I was in agony; it felt as if my soul was being directly exposed to all the appalling wrongs I have committed throughout my life. By day three it became difficult to compose myself at work and I found myself continually having to fight back tears that threatened to constantly overwhelm me. That night, the moment when I got home, I fell on my knees in agony and quickly realised that God was busy showing me to me; through His eyes. It was a horrifying sight and all I knew was that if treated righteously by God in that moment, I deserved to be instantly consumed by God’s holy wrath and that I did in no way at all deserve His mercy and grace. Yet there He was, simultaneously convicting me of my sin and presenting His solution. The way His Spirit exposed my own was a relentless display of His sovereignty of which I’m now very much aware of on a day-to-day basis. By day four any resistance I had left in me was destroyed as He completely bent my knee. My soul literally felt scrutinised and exposed before Him. I’ve very much developed a healthy fear of the Lord since then. I share this testimony somewhat reluctantly as I realise it would perhaps draw some criticism and raise doubt with some. But it’s clear to me that I must share this with anyone who would hear and listen. Possibly some would also interpret it as slightly theatrical, but these events diminishes and brings to nothing any other event throughout my entire life, so forgive the dramatic oversights that I may have had in sharing my story. During the course of these few days one thing became unmistakably clear to me; that God was not going to allow me to continue running away from Him and that He was going to begin cleaning me methodically. Also that it was going to hurt since I’m a proud and arrogant person. Back to when I was 23 years old. I cannot recall the events leading up to that specific evening or why I felt that anxious desire to know if He was there. But I do recall every little detail of what happened next when I asked Him that question and it has and will remain my most vivid recorded memory. I remember specifically asking Him to give me a sign. Immediately though I realised the presumption of such a request that and apologised, yet I still actually wanted Him to show me He was there for me. This conversation occurred as rapid thoughts rather than spoken words. Yet I had this unusual realisation that I unexpectedly felt faith that I did not know was possible for me. I literally thought, like a fool of course, I might receive some visible or tangible sign, like a shooting star ... (pretty stupid) And that is pretty much how far my thoughts got as they were cut short because that’s when God answered me. I remember going “Ooooffff !!” and with shock realised that my back was striking the sliding door glass panes behind me; hard. The balcony was about 1.5 metres in width from balcony railings to the sliding doors behind me and I remember thinking with some misguided amusement “how the heck did I get back here so fast?” I was bewildered and was unable to properly process what just happened as I recognised that I was struck in the centre of my chest, from the outside in, by an especially powerful force that flung me backwards into the sliding door. I remember recognizing that it did not hurt even though it was very potent. All this was about one second in and it happened too fast for me to fully grasp what was happening. I was trying to gain my composure against the sliding door when my knees just abruptly gave way from under me and I collapsed to the ground. I was on my back on the ground and quickly realized that I couldn’t really move. It’s then that I knew and understood that the Lord was upon me. This was only about four seconds in and this is where the sense of time lapse started becoming a bit uncertain. These words popped into my head afterwards “every knee shall bow” and I searched and came upon the Scripture of Romans 14:11 “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God”. As I was lying there I became aware of a feeling as if suspended in the middle of a river, even though I was fully cognisant of what was happening around. It felt as if this river was flowing, not over and around me, but right through me; also simultaneously in every direction. I really have no other way of describing it other than this passage I found afterwards in Scripture; John 7:38 “He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water”. I immediately had the knowledge that it was the Holy Spirit moving. There are no words I can come up with to adequately explain this other than immensely powerful, loving and at a level of hyper reality that makes this reality seem of little consequence. Eventually, I am uncertain of the time lapse at this point, I felt some movement coming back into my limbs and at that time I decided it might be a good idea to try and crawl back into the room off of the balcony. I managed, with some effort, to crawl back into the room, reached the bed which luckily was quite low off the ground, and managed to crawl on top of it. As I slowly rolled onto my back, this moving presence of the Holy Spirit ramped up instantaneously like one would increase the volume on a radio; that’s the only way I can really explain it. This escalated to the point where it became so overwhelming that I started to panic a bit. It literally felt as if my body might explode. I then did what I regret to this day and I asked Him to please dial it down slightly since I thought that it really was too much for me to take at that point. Immediately upon asking this His presence began to gradually depart until it left me entirely. I then kept it a secret for 25 years without telling a soul; afraid of what people might think or say if I shared what happened to me. But the Lord has since empowered me to give my witness. My testimony is this; we don’t belong to ourselves; we were made by Him, for Him, and for others. Our natural habitat is not in separation from Him, because that is where we become fallen. Our natural habitat is with Him, because there we are in His image and character. For the glory of His name.